Fracking the Finger Lakes and The Future of New York Wine

Of all the farmers in New York State, are grapegrowers more concerned about fracking than those producing other agricultural products? The first round of opposition was fired in an editorial by Vintners Peter Saltonstall of King Ferry Winery and Doug Hazlitt of Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards that ran in The Post-Standard of Syracuse. The duo wants Governor Andrew Cuomo to ban horizontal, high-volume hydraulic fracturing, better known as "fracking".

According to Saltonstall and Hazlitt, considering the water contamination, air pollution and health risks it would bring to their communities, fracking is "destructive and unsustainable. And the experience in states with fracking not only shows it to be an environmental and public health catastrophe, but also to economically bust, lower property values and carry enormous social costs, such as increased crime."

The New York State Farm Bureau, however, has come out in favor of the controversial energy extraction process. Director of Public Policy Jeff Williams told The Legeslative Gazette, "The bureau supports fracking when done safely, and we believe the Department of Environmental Conservation has the tools to do that."

Are you concerned that fracking can cause irreparable environmental damage or do you side with the Farm Bureau?

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